Smoke puffing device for toy locomotives



D. L. CRQSMAN SMOKE FUFFING DEVICE FOR TOY LOCOMOTIVES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR DORA AND L. CRO SMAN ATTORNEYS Jan. 14, 1964 Filed Feb. 8, 1962 O FILE 6 a F I J W Z Jan. 14, 1964 CROSMAN SMOKE PUFFING DEVICE FOR TOY LOCOMOTIVES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 8, 1962 130mm AND L. CQosMA/v ATTO RN EYS United States Patent 3,117,393 SMGKE PUFFING DEVICE FOR TOY LOCOMOTEVES Dot-land L. Crosman, Glen Ridge, N.J., assignor, hy mesne assignments, to Walter E. Heller & Company, (Inc), New York, N.Y.,, a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 8, 1962, Ser. No. 171,902 4 Claims. (Cl. 46--9) This invention relates generally to toys, and particularly to a new and useful apparatus for causing the emission of pulls of smoke from such toys.

In prior art smoke generator devices, such as for toy locomotives, the mechanism used was by its nature very bulky and involved, which make it unsuitable for the use in small gauge railroad toys such as the HO gauge size. Because of the above-mentioned reasons, the assembly during manufacture of such smoke generators was time consuming and required a relatively large number of components.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a smoke generator for small scale toys.

Another object of the invention is to provide a smoke generator of simple valveless design and relatively few parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a small scale, simple smoke generator fior toy locomotives, without detracting from the realistic appearance of the locomotive and preserving its scale proportions.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a smoke generator requiring less elfort of assembly than in the case of prior art devices.

According to the invention, a smoke generator is provided wherein at least one of the simulated steam cylinders on a toy locomotive is used to supply puffs of air to the generator. This is accomplished by attaching a piston to one end of the connecting rod connected at its other end to the driven wheels of the locomotive. The piston reciprocates within .one or both simulated steam cylinders. The simulated steam cylinder near its closed end is connected through a curving duct to the smoke chamber. A wick, adapted to be heated by an electrical resistance element, is positioned in the smoke chamber, the bottom of the wick depending into a bottom portion of the smoke chamber, adapted to pick up previously deposited smoke generating liquid from the bottom portion. The heated portions of the wick becomes saturated with the smoke generating material, subsequently smoke star-ts to form and fills the chamber. The upper end of the vertically disposed smoke chamber terminates in a smoke stack having an opening therein communicating with the exterior. As the piston, driven by the wheels, reciprocates within the simulated steam cylinder, on the back stroke air is sucked into the smoke chamber through the smoke stack, the sucked-in air is saturated with the smoke and upon the forward stroke of the piston a pub. of the smokeladen air is emitted through the smoke stack to the outside. Upon a subsequent back stroke, a new batch of air is sucked into the smoke chamber and the cycle is repeated. When the smoke producing substance is used up, it can be easily refilled by simply pouring or dropping some more into the chamber through the stack. 1

The realistic appearance of the small scale locomotive is accomplished by the provision of the two simulated steam cylinders, at least one of which carries the piston for producing the necessary suction and pressure for the gathering of air and emitting the smoke laden air.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the enclosed drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows the trout part of a toy locomotive includ- 3,1173% Patented Jan. 14, i954 ing the smoke generator of the present invention, the rest of the locomotive being shown in phantom;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 2 showing the piston in partial elevation; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the smoke generator according to the invention.

In the drawing, a locomotive 1 is shown, which can be driven by an electric motor (not shown). In the illustrated embodiment, the motor drives :wheels 2 by means of a suitable transmission (not shown). The wheels 2 are eccentrically attached in tandem to a tie rod 4. A connecting rod 6 is rotatably attached to the tie rod 4 at 8. The opposite end of the connecting rod 6 is pivotally attached by a rivet M to a piston rod 12. One end of the piston rod 12 is formed with an abutting collar 14 (FIG. 3) and a snap button 16 adjacent thereto. A piston 18 having -a hole 20 in its rear wall is snapped over the button 16 onto a restricted part of the rod 12 disposed between the collar 14 and button 16. The other end of the rod 12 is formed to define a guide recess 22 having a guide finger 24 (FIG. 5). In the preferred embodiment, the rod 12 with its guide recess 22 and guide finger 24, and the piston 13, are preferably made of a suitable plastic having a low coefiicient of friction, such as nylon or Delrin.

The piston 18 is adapted to reciprocate within a cylindrical cavity 26 of the smoke generator housing 28. The part of the housing 28, containing the cavity 26 is shaped to simulate a steam cylinder of a locomotive. A guide plate 30 is attached to the housing 28 and the guide recess 22 of the piston rod 12 is adapted to reciprocate along the length of guide plate 30 to maintain the piston rod 12 horizontal at every point of its path of travel. As best shown in FIG. 5, the side of the guide plate 30 is bent at an angle, and the bent portion rest within the recess 22 defined in the end of piston rod 12. In the preferred embodiment, there is only one reciprocating piston 18 provided in the simulated steam cylinder cavity 26, while on the other side of the locomotive a smaller cavity 27 is provided for a dummy piston rod 13 for reciprocation. The dummy rod 13 is linked to the wheels 4 similarly on both sides. However, if desired, a piston similar to 18 can be provided on the other side too.

The housing 28 of the smoke generator includes an elongated duct 32 formed therein. The duct 32 communicates at 34 with the forward end of the cylindrical cavity 26 (FIGS. 2, 6 and 7). The duct 32 near its opposite end changes direction to form substantially an obtuse angle with respect to the longer initial part of the duct.

The shorter, bent end of the duct 32 terminates in a vertically disposed, smoke chamber 36 formed in the housing 28. The lower part of the smoke chamber 36 extends below the short end of the duct 32 to define a collecting cavity or reservoir 38. In the preferred embodiment, a hole 4t! is provided in the housing 28 for a headlight 42 of the locomotive 1. The upper end of the smoke chamber 36 has a threaded hole l i therein and a smoke stack or chimney 46 is screwed into the threaded hole 44. The chimney 46 at its other end is formed with a rim 48 having a knurled edge. One of the functions of the chimney 46 With its rim 48 can be to fasten a locomotive housing Stl to the undercarriage of the locomotive 1, which housing contains all realistic appearance features 3 of a real locomotive. in the preferred embodiment, the housing 5b is made of a plastic.

Vertically disposed within the snoke chamber 36 is a heatable Wick The wick 52 is adapted to be heated at its center portion by electrical heating means, and the electricity is suuplied thereto through an upper wick clamp and a lower Wick clamp 56, which also serve to attach the wick 52 to housing 28. The upper wick clamp 54 is firm y attached to the housing which is connected to one pole of an electrical supply. The lower v ck clamp E5 is held to the housing by an insulator 58. A Wire 69 enters the housing 23 through a bore 62 in the insulation and is attached to the lower wick clamp 56. If desired, a wire it can be used to connect the upper wick clamp to one pole of the electric supply. The lower end of the lower Wick cla .1: se is approximately in line with the shorter end of the duct 32, but a remaining portion of the wick protrudes below into the collecting cavity The smoke generator housing 28 is formed with its cavities and 38 o 1 towards front. A gasket *4 and a closure plate (i are provided to close the various exposed cavities er the Wick 52 has been mounted Within the smoke chamber 36. The gasket 64 and the closure plat as are provided with suitable holes for the headlight 3-2. and attaching screws 6% Threaded bores are provked in the housing 28 for the attaching screws 6-8.

In operation the collecting cavity 38 is filled with a smoke producing liquid through the chimney 46 from the exterior. T he amount of smoke producing material is preferably metered by counting the number of drops to prevent the filling of too much mateial into the cavity 35. The shorter, bent portion of the duct 32 prevents the smoke producing liquid from running through the duct into the cyl ter 26. The bottom end or the wick 52 projects into the cavity 33 and the smoke producing liquid therein and sucks up enough liquid to saturate the Wick for subseauent smoke producting action. As the electricity for dr ing the locomotive is turned on, the saturated wick will be heated up and the smoke producing material by its character will start to produce fumes. As the locomotive moves along the tracks its Wheels 2 cause the piston 13 to reciprocate Within the cavity 26. Upon the forward movement of the piston 15? in the cavity 26, the air from the ca is pushed through the opening 34 and the duct 32 into the smoke chamber, displacing a similar volume of smoke-laden air therefrom outward through the chimney 4-6 into the surroundings. This action will manifest itself in the emission of a puff of smoke from the smoke stack, creating the realistic appearance of a smoke pulling locomotive.

Upon the rearward motion or" the piston 13, portion of air is sucked in from the exterior through the chimney 46 into the smoke chamber Upon return forward movement, another pull of smoke will be emitted from the chimney. Th s sequence of pulls will continue either until the electricity is turned oh, and the heat capacity of hou ng 23 will cause the heated wick to cool off relatively quickly and stop the production of smoke; or until he smoke producing material is depleted.

It is to be understood that the embodiment described was shown for purposes of illustration only and the scope of the invention is to be interpreted from the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A combined smoke generator and pulling apparatus for a toy locomotive, comprising a one piece body memher, said body member having a substantially rectangular body portion and a pair of opposed simulated steam cylinders integral with a lower portion of said body portion, an eloi v .ted vertically disposed chamber formed in "e of said body portion, heatable elongated smoke .cing secured in said chamber with its lower end disposed at a level above the lower end of said cham- /er, a cavity formed in a single one of said steam cylinders, duct means in said body portion placing said cavity in communication with a lower portion of said chamber, said duct means including an intermediate portion above the level of the lower end of s 'd smoke producing means and first and second end ns inclined downwardly from said intermediate portion respectively to said chamoer and to said cavity, and plate means secured to said body portion covering said chamber to form a smoke eneration chamber and covering said groove means to form an uninterrupted passageway between said cavity and said smoke generation chamber.

2. A combined smoke generator and pulling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cylinders include respective pistons connected from the Wheels of said locomotive for actuation thereby.

3. A combined smoke generator and puffing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said smoke producing means includes a heatable wick.

4. A smoke generator and pulling apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said smoke producing means further comprises an electrical resistance Wire wound about said wick, and means for insulating said Wire from said body member.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,673,419 Kelch et al. Mar. 30, 1954 FORETGN PATENTS 636,172 Great Britain Jan. 21, 1953 

1. A COMBINED SMOKE GENERATOR AND PUFFING APPARATUS FOR A TOY LOCOMOTIVE, COMPRISING A ONE PIECE BODY MEMBER, SAID BODY MEMBER HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR BODY PORTION INTEGRAL WITH A LOWER PORTION OF SAID BODY PORTION, AN ELONGATED VERTICALLY DISPOSED CHAMBER FORMED IN A SURFACE OF SAID BODY PORTION, HEATABLE ELONGATED SMOKE PRODUCING MEANS SECURED IN SAID CHAMBER WITH ITS LOWER END DISPOSED AT A LEVEL ABOVE THE LOWER END OF SAID CHAMBER, A CAVITY FORMED IN A SINGLE ONE OF SAID STEAM CYLINDERS, DUCT MEANS IN SAID BODY PORTION PLACING SAID CAVITY IN COMMUNICATION WITH A LOWER PORTION OF SAID CHAMBER, SAID DUCT MEANS INCLUDING AN INTERMEDIATE PORTION ABOVE 